South African FIFA presidential contender Tokyo Sexwale on Friday called for a campaign to stop European rival UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino getting the leadership of soccer’s scandal-tainted world body.
Without naming Infantino, Sexwale said the next FIFA leader must come from Africa or Asia and that he was ready to form an alliance to stop a European candidate.
“I am focused on making sure that the president of FIFA comes from either Africa or Asia, not Europe,” Sexwale told South Africa’s Metro radio station.
With Sexwale, Infantino and two other candidates — former FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa — due in Qatar this weekend, Sexwale’s comments were a strong sign that the campaign is polarizing ahead of the Feb. 26 vote.
World soccer’s governing body, which has never had a leader from outside Europe or South America, is looking for a replacement for disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was banned for eight years for abusing his position, while the orgainzation has been rocked by other corruption scandals.
Sexwale, an anti-apartheid prisoner with Nelson Mandela, who became a business tycoon and politician, raised the possibility of some candidates joining forces.
“The time for alliances is ... coming, and it is healthy, it is democratic and it is good,” he said. “Now we are talking ... we are brothers, we are colleagues.”
Sexwale did not name his allies, but Infantino’s main rival is Sheikh Salman, head of the AFC, which this month signed a cooperation accord with the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Prince Ali has made a formal complaint to FIFA about the accord, which he said was a “an attempt to engineer a bloc vote” in the FIFA race.
The 53-member CAF is to meet on Friday to decide which candidate it will back in the election.
The South American Football Federation and a group of European nations, including Germany and France, have indicated they will vote for Infantino, a long-time right-hand man to disgraced UEFA president Michel Platini, who was banned for eight years at the same time as Blatter.
Election rivalry has already cause tensions in Europe.
French former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne said he was insulted by French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet at a meeting in a Paris restaurant when he sought support for his campaign.
Le Graet told him France would be supporting Infantino and an altercation started in the restaurant, according to media reports.
Champagne replied that he would protest Le Graet’s decision not to even let him speak to the FFF executive. Le Graet called Champagne a “little man,” used another expletive, threw down money for his meal and then walked out, according to Le Parisien newspaper, whose account was confirmed by other football sources.
“I was insulted,” Champagne said.
Le Graet, a frequently outspoken character, would not comment on the meeting.
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